Sea Level Drive residents remain locked out as repairs continue Play

No new news from the Sea Level Drive disaster area. The city is apparently shifting into long-term disaster management now that the immediate emergency has cooled down.

Except for the 31 households that remain locked out of the disaster area.

The road to their houses is falling into the ocean, affected by that sinkhole that developed under actor Nicolas Cage's wavefront house on stilts. Until that road can be rebuilt, there is no fire truck access to about 20 houses on the uphill side of Sea Level Drive. No fire truck access means no humans can enter.

Friday, the city shut down its Emergency Operations Center. The city put out a statement that the Sea Level Homeowners Association is responsible for overseeing the repair efforts. The city says it is working closely with the HOA on engineering and installing solutions.

Eight houses out over the water have giant plastic balloons wedged under them, with a cement slurry pumped inside to harden into giant concrete blobs.

The ninth house — the one with the collapsed driveway, the one owned by Nicolas Cage — does not have concrete bags in front of it. Its septic system was washed away. That certainly raises the possibility that it can never be occupied again, making it a $10 million write-off for movie star Nicolas Cage.

That house has to be dealt with before Sea Level Drive can be repaired and reopened.

What is the repair timeline? When will evacuation orders be lifted for the uphill houses? When will red tag orders — prohibiting human entrance — be canceled?

No word.